The playground for "toddlers" - the first encounter with new elements and possibilities

Playground at Wilhelm Busch Street in Ibbenbueren (Germany) with a ship with a slide, with a little castle element with a second slide, with spring riders and sand box [1]		Playground with little children's castle and an artificial lawn 01 in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores (installed in about 2010) [5]
Spring riders 02 with a motor bike, an air plane, a bike and with a car, review Spielen-Lernen-Bewegen, Germany [27]

Analysis by Michael Palomino (2012)

The playground facility

Playground devices should be very simple for children from 2 to 5 years and above all

1 should not be high, but there should also be the possibility to fall without big pain (so, there should be soft earth or soft artificial lawn)

2 should be based on little movements (so, the coil spring has to be strong and well maintained), or

3 should be based on a hide-and-seek (with little tunnels, corners for hiding, a little house with two entrances, but not with dangerous hills please because the toddler does not want to fall!)

A house with only one entrance for example is no play, but the hide-and-seek is ending in a blind end and dynamism of the play has gone then.

A steep access to a children's house is no motivation for a 2 to 5 years old child, also when there is a railing. The child only understands with 4 years what a railing is.

Playground at Wilhelm Busch Street in Ibbenbueren (Germany) with a ship with a slide, with a little castle element with a second slide, with spring riders and sand box [1]

Castle playground in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores, Peru (in 2008 appr.) [2]

Castle playground in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores, view over the whole facility (in 2008 appr.) [3] This playground facility contains -- a multicolor playground giving a joyful impression (+) -- many short slides which are not too steep or long and with a flat end (+) -- little climbing facilities (+) -- safe rising possibilities with railings (+) -- the children can see each other from castle to castle or can also walk from castle to castle in the "upper floor" (+) -- the playground is partly in the shadow of high trees (+) -- the playground is protected from dogs with a fence and with a hedge (+). Here "life was going on". The evening in Peru from sunset at 6 pm is lasting partly also for the little children until 11 pm when they sleep during the day. This facility receives SEVEN plus. In 2010 this playground in Kennedy Park was redesigned and got an artificial lawn, and the number of castles was badly reduced so the dynamic life on this playground partly has gone.

Artificial lawn on the playground for toddlers

For children between two and five years and also for the parents it is a paradise when children can play on an artificial lawn where children are not getting dirty. An artificial lawn can also be put on a playground for children from 5 to 11 years, under swings, seesaws, roundabouts, climbing facilities etc. According to my travel experience this possibility to install an artificial lawn on playgrounds is a very good idea but hardly applied yet. Also bare-foot playing is possible - what is hardly possible on a woodchip ground or only will be possible with a thick scarf-skin as the natives have because of little points of wood prickling the feet.

Kunstrasen auf dem Spielplatz im Kennedypark in Lima-Miraflores
Playground with little children's castle and an artificial lawn 01 in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores (installed in about 2010) [4]	Playground with little children's castle and an artificial lawn 02 in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores (installed in about 2010) [5]
Now we have the following points for the playground facility in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores: -- a multicolor playground is giving a joyful impression (+) -- there is an artificial lawn and clothes of the children are not dirty any more (+) -- children have no feeling to be guilty any more and washing actions are omitted (+) -- there is no sand in the children's shoes (+) -- children cannot take sand into their mouth (+) -- slides are short and not steep and all have a flat end (+) -- there are also short tunnels now (+) -- there are safe possibilities for going up with railings (+) -- and the playground remains protected from dogs by a fence and a hedge (+). This concept gets NINE plus. Until 2012 the playground was filled up with more castles, slides and hammocks. Playground with an artificial lawn 03 with castles, slided and hammocks in Kennedy Park in Lima-Miraflores (apr. in 2009) [6] Perhaps some water is missing, and also toilets are far at the other side of the park. But there are restaurants just aside, and in the town of Lima there are some beaches (yet, as long as the rising sea level is not "eroding completely" the beaches. Concering protection of beaches Peru is not strong unfortunately).

This playground in Lima in Miraflores District with it's artificial lawn for toddlers from 2 to 5 years old seems really to be a model. Drainage has to work. Therefore the whole site has to be inclined a little bit so the rainwater is draining off well.


Slides for toddlers must be short - dangerous slides for toddlers

Slides for children under 5 years should be only short. Longer slides for little children are a little bit dangerous yet because the little children don't know what is breaking with the hands yet. And the flat end of the slide should be so low as possible.

Slides for toddlers
Slide for toddlers with an own house with a face on a woodchip ground, can be found in Hughes park in Arlington, Tennessee, "USA" [7]		Slide with a house and a shelter possibility on a sandy ground, without indication of location [8]

Criminal slides with construction faults

There are also bad slides with big constructions faults, with a too short flat end, with a too high flat end, or even with a missing flat end. One can say it like this: The flat end is the most important part of a slide.

Moreover, a slide has to be fixed well on the ground because toddlers like to "investigate" if a playground device is stable or not and they will overthrow it when it's not fixed well. Therefore it's no use to buy plastic indoor slides without being fixed well on the ground.

Criminal not working slides in Peru
Impractical slide with a too short and much too high flat end so children fall on their nose, and there is no railing going up. This model can be found in whole criminal corrupt town of Trujillo in Peru. Crazy [9] Multicolor painting (+) does not serve anything.		Impractical slide without any flat end so the children fall directly on the ground, and there is no railing for going up. This model is in Tsachopen in Oxapampa region in Peru. Crazy [10] Multicolor construction (+) does not serve anything.
Similar impractical slides could also be seen in Ecuador.

Spring riders for toddlers

Science indicates that spring riders are important not only copying a little bit the swimming existence before birth in the belly of the mother, but brain is developing with the balance exercise:

<Spring playground devices are appropriated above all for a training of balance and motor skills of the children.

Riding on spring riders provokes three dimensional centrifugal forces having the effect of connecting the right and the left cerebral hemisphere. This has an extreme positive effect for powers of concentration and for fantasy development of the children.> [web01]

(orig. German:
<Federspielgeräte eignen sich besonders um den Gleichgewichtssinn und die Motorik von Kindern zu schulen.

Durch die beim Wippen auftretenden dreidimensionalen Fliehkräfte werden unter anderem die rechte und die linke Hirnhälfte miteinander verbunden. Das wirkt sich extrem positiv auf das Konzentrationsverhalten und der Fantasie von Kindern aus.> [web01]

Nice spring rider 01 showing a dog, Ruednitz near Berlin, Germany [11]	Nice spring rider 02 showing a mouse in animal park "Daelhoelzli" in Berne, Switzerland [12]
Nice spring rider 03 showing a horse in Hughes Park in Arlington, Tennessee, "USA" [13]	Nice spring rider 04 showing a crocodile in Greven near Muenster, North Rhine Westfalia, Germany [14]
Nice spring rider 05 for four children showing a flower, Ibbenbueren, Germany [15]	Nice spring rider house on a playground in Woodbridge, England [16]

Seesaws with spiral springs have to be maintained well, and spiral springs do not live for life either.

A lonly spiral spring in Eckartsberga near Leipzig, Germany [17] Such a "lonely" spiral spring is a real injury risk. Probably a playground device (probably a big seesawI had to be repaired (considering the used lawn in the middle of the photo), and the repair "never ended". Well, one can cover a lonly spiral spring, or one can install a little fence as long as it's lonely yet.

Another kind of soft seesaw are rocking horses which cannot move much:

Rocking horses on Rotseematte ("Red Lake Meadow") in the region of Lucerne in Switzerland [18] But they are too high and the little child can fall heavily...

Baby swings

Swings for one to three years old children have traditionally a baby seat like in the kitchen at the dining table. And there are also indoor baby swings for the use in the house.

Baby swings on the playground or in the house (indoor)
Baby swing made of wood on Hari Krishna farm "Eco Truly" in Lluta Valley near Arica in Chile [19]	Baby swing with mother and child on an adventure playground in Waidhofen, Austria [20]
Baby swing with adaptable ropes installed indoor in a doorframe, Hudora Company, Switzerland [21]	Baby swing on a metal rack in the house (indoor), Graco Company [22]

Plate swings

With four years the children try their first little swings, for example plate swings. Normal swings will follow from 6 years on approximately.

Plate swing 01 in form of a flower, Wulf Shop, region of Hamburg [23]

Plate swing 02 with child appr. 4 years old, Shop Wahl, Germany [24]

Plate swing 03 with a design of a lady beatle, hand made, without indication of location [25]

Well, plate swings are problematic because the rope and the fixation of the rope are in the lab. And this can be dangerous for girls or boys above all in summer times when people is only lightly clad and when the plate swings are splintering. In general normal swings should be preferred.


Stationary vehicles for toddlers

Standing vehicles for toddlers are on the floor or on spring riders.

Train of wood on a playground in Frasdorf in Bavaria, Germany [26]

Spiral springs also can carry vehicles:

Spring rider vehicle 01, a train engine on spiral springs, review Spielen-Lernen-Bewegen, Germany [27]

Spring rider vehicle 02, motor bike, air plane, bycicle and car on spiral springs, review Spielen-Lernen-Bewegen, Germany [28]

Mobile vehicles for toddlers

Mobile vehicles are car or fantasy vehicle devices being pushed by bigger persons. In this way the toddler is using it's first go-cart:

Go-cart for rent for toddlers 01, Ejido Park in Quito, Ecuador [29]	Go-cart for rent for toddlers 02, Ejido Park in Quito, Ecuador [30]
Go-cart for rent for toddlers 03, Ejido Park in Quito, Ecuador [31]	Go-cart for rent for toddlers 04, Wall Park (parque Muralla) in Lima, Peru [32]
Toddler running a go-cart 01 pushed by parents, in Ejido Park in Quito in Ecuador [33]

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